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Game
raised: Marin Cilic holds his US Open trophy aloft after his emphatic victory
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Croatia's Marin Cilic won
his first Grand Slam title with a comprehensive straight-sets win over Kei
Nishikori of Japan at the US Open.
Cilic won 6-3 6-3 6-3 to
become the first Croat to win one of the four tennis majors since his coach,
Goran Ivanisevic, at Wimbledon in 2001.
The 14th seed dominated
throughout on a cool, breezy day in New York, hitting 17 aces and dropping
serve just once in one hour and 54 minutes.
His victory completes a
Grand Slam year that has seen eight different winners of the singles titles
across the men's and women's games, for the first time since 1998.
"I don't know how I
did it. It was hard work over the last few years and especially this last
year," said Cilic, who missed last year's US Open as he served a ban for
taking a prohibited stimulant.
"My team has brought
something to me, especially Goran.
"We're all working
really hard but the most important thing he brought to me was enjoying tennis,
and always having fun. I think I played the best tennis of my life."
Nishikori said: "He
was playing really well today, I couldn't play my tennis. It's a really tough
loss but I'm really happy for first coming to the final."
Cilic, 25, kept up the
momentum he had gathered in brilliant wins over Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer
to power though to the title with nine sets in a row.
Nishikori, coached by
former French Open champion Michael Chang, had a much more punishing route to
the final, taking more than 11 hours to get past fifth seed Milos Raonic, third
seed Stan Wawrinka and world number one Novak Djokovic.
Japan's first Grand Slam
finalist was not lacking for support, with huge numbers of his compatriots at Flushing
Meadows for the final and a nationwide TV audience tuning in back home at 6am
local time.
It was not fatigue or
backing that proved decisive in the final, however, as Cilic simply outplayed
the 10th seed.
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